One known carrier configuration for driving independently suspended wheels comprises a two-piece carrier case configuration having a main carrier shell or backbone and a flange side lateral case attached to the backbone. The carrier houses a differential that receives driving input from a ring and pinion gear, and which provides driving output to a pair of output shafts.
A differential gear set is housed within a differential case. The differential case includes a first differential case half typically referred to as the “flange case half” and a second differential case half typically referred to as the “plain case half,” which are attached to each other to enclose the differential gear set within the differential case. The ring gear is fixed to the flange case half and each of the flange and plain case halves is supported by a differential bearing. The differential can also include a locking mechanism that can lock the output shafts and differential together to rotate as unit when needed. The backbone and flange side lateral case are attached to each other to form a carrier housing that encloses the differential.
When this type of carrier uses axial loading of the differential, one of two configurations is required. Either a bolt-on pinion cage is required, or a wide spacing of the differential bearings is required to provide clearance to load the pinion gear internally, this results in a wider than needed carrier. One example configuration includes a backbone with a pedestal for mounting the plain side differential bearing and differential lock components and a flange side lateral case that includes the flange side differential bearing. This design requires a bolt-on pinion cage because the pedestal is located directly in front of the pinion gear head. Bolt-on cages are disadvantageous for certain applications due to interference with the vehicle frame. Bolt-on cages also increase the overall cost and add potential oil leak paths.